Jackson Baer
For The New Era
On the road after a four-game home stand, Sweet Home came up just short in the final seconds to Junction City, losing a hard-fought thriller 35-28.
The stats tell a different story than the final score and two controversial calls against Sweet Home changed the game.
Head Coach Dustin Nichol was unable to be on the sidelines to lead his team after having back surgery the day before.
Assistant Coach Don Knight took over as leader for the week and carried out the game plan set up by Nichol and the coaching staff.
“We need to be disciplined,” Knight said. “We tend to make mistakes at very inopportune times and give up big plays. They came out this week and played as hard as they did all year.”
“We had people around the ball all night flying to the ball and played well on defense. We need to break the habit of giving up big plays but the kids played their hearts out. They got the word that their head coach was out and they had only one day to prepare. They rallied around him and went out and played hard.”
The Huskies played with a lot of emotion and handled adversity well. It was a night where breaks seemed to go the other way and calls by the officials were too much to overcome.
Junction City started the game with two bad snaps on its opening drive and it looked like it would be a long night for the Tigers’ offense. Sweet Home took over and Keenan Martin hit Alex Santana for a 30-yard pass downfield. Kyle Sorenson, who had another fine running game, completed the scoring drive with a 12-yard rushing touchdown to give the Huskies an early 7-0 lead.
Junction City responded with a three-minute drive of its own, capped off by a 11-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Britt Bay to Jake Straube with 1:14 left in the first quarter.
The Huskies and Tigers traded big special teams plays, each having big returns, but neither team able to score.
In the second quarter sophomore Mitch Keenon got his first of three interceptions on the night. Sweet Home took over at its own 8-yard line but on the second play, threw an interception of their own.
The Tigers got the ball at the 27-yard line and scored just seconds later on a 20-yard touchdown pass to Straube at the 10:42 mark.
Patrick Long took the following kick-off back 50 yards to give the Huskies great field position, something they had most of the first half. On fourth and nine, Martin kept the ball on a 20-yard touchdown run, tying the game at 14-14.
Sweet Home followed up its scoring drive by stopping the Tigers on fourth down and getting the ball around midfield. Martin hit Mitch Keenon for a would-be 40-yard touchdown pass only to be called back by a holding penalty on fourth down, which forced the Huskies to punt.
Mitch Keenon was all over the field, making big play after big play. Indicative of how the season has gone this year, he deflected a pass and the ball came down in a Tiger receiver’s hands for a 49-yard gain.
Two plays later Keenon would make up for that big play with one of his own, getting his second interception on the 1-yard line with 2:44 left to play before half-time.
The Huskies were unable to move the ball and Junction City had one more chance before the half. The Tigers capitalized and scored on a 13-yard touchdown pass with 30 seconds left in the second quarter to take a 21-14 lead into the locker room.
On Junction City’s first drive of the third quarter, the second controversial call would arguably change the game. The Huskies looked like they had stopped the Tigers on fourth down with a nice defensive play, but the officials called pass interference on Sweet Home and the momentum shifted to the home team.
Junction City rushed in for a 2-yard touchdown with 6:36 remaining in the third quarter, giving them a 28-14 lead.
The Tigers then recovered an onside kick around the Husky 40-yard line. But their drive stalled when Keenon proceeded to grab his third interception at the 6-yard line. Sweet Home was unable to do much, though, and was forced to punt.
The next Junction City drive ended with the Tigers’ fourth interception of the night, this one by Alex Santana, who returned the pick to the Junction City 25-yard line with :32 left in the third quarter.
Martin followed with a 13-yard rush and as the fourth quarter started, the Huskies were faced with a fourth and 8. Martin connected with Santana for a 10-yard touchdown pass to bring the Huskies within seven points, 28-21.
Junction City returned the kick-off 60-yards to stop any momentum Sweet Home had gained on the previous drive. Bay rushed for a 25-yard touchdown on the second play to give the Tigers a commanding 35-21 lead with 9:26 left to play.
After the Huskies were stopped again on offense, the Tigers missed a 40-yard field goal that would have put the game out of reach. Sweet Home got the ball back with just under five minutes left and Martin shifted his game to another level.
He hit Santana for a 13-yard touchdown pass at 2:39 to close the score 35-28 and give the Huskies a chance at an improbable comeback. Santana made a great catch on the play.
The onside kick couldn’t have been executed any better and the Huskies recovered at the Junction City 48-yard line. Martin followed with a 19-yard run and a 5-yard run but a 15-yard chop block penalty on the Huskies brought back most of those gains.
Martin then rushed twice more, for eight and 13 yards respectively. At the 21-yard line, with less than 50 seconds in the game, Straube intercepted the ball to stop Sweet Home just short of an amazing comeback.
“It was disappointing because we worked hard all week to prepare for this game in Junction City,” said Keenon. “We were upset, but we played a good game and we know we made Coach Nichol proud. In practice Coach Nichol has taught us not to give up on any plays, because of that I was able to take advantage of the situations that were thrown up for grabs.”
The game was “like a roller coaster on defense, Grason Reynolds said. “The first quarter was great, we broke down a few times, but we stayed positive. Losing like that at the end was like getting punched in the gut; there is nothing fun about that.
We need to go in to next week and play our game. Cottage Grove is a good team (so) we need to play smart and physical.”
Knight said the players are “ready to bounce back” against Cottage Grove, which improved to 6-1 after beating Sisters 54-12 and will visit Friday night at 7 p.m.
With the loss Sweet Home falls to 1-2 in league and 2-5 overall.
“Cottage Grove is a great team. They’re explosive and have a tremendous amount of three-year starters,” said Knight. “We’re going to try and contain their attack. We can’t get in a shootout but have to play disciplined and play with the same heart we did last week.”
Scoring
1st 2nd 3rd 4th Total
SH 7 7 0 14 28
JC 7 14 7 7 35
Team Statistics
Rushing: SH 46-251; JC 32-107
Passing: SH 8-23-2, 95; JC 12-26-4, 195
First Downs: SH 17; JC 13
Penalties: SH 8-73; JC 3-35
Turnovers: SH 2; JC-4